U.S. government debt yields held steady Friday as investors digested Chinese data and new Brexit developments.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note traded lower at 1.74%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose to 2.234%. Yields move inversely to prices.
China posted its weakest growth in nearly three decades, as the U.S.-China trade war hit demand at home and abroad. The world's second-largest economy grew 6% in the third quarter, less than expected, and its weakest pace of expansion in over 27 years.
The downbeat data appeared to offset a global shift in market sentiment on Thursday, after the U.K. and European Union struck a long-awaited Brexit deal. British and EU officials reached the agreement after successive days of late-night talks and almost three years of tense discussions.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will now attempt to persuade U.K. lawmakers to back his agreement, ahead of what is expected to be a knife-edge vote on Saturday.
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said Friday said policymakers don't have their minds made up about where interest rate policy is headed and reiterated that the central bank would act as appropriate in response to incoming data.
With the Fed less than two weeks away from an FOMC meeting, Clarida said decisions will be made based on risks to an economy he said is on solid ground. Markets widely expect the Fed to cut the overnight lending rate for a third time at its October meeting.
"Looking ahead, monetary policy is not on a preset course, and the Committee will proceed on a meeting-by-meeting basis to assess the economic outlook as well as the risks to the outlook, and it will act as appropriate to sustain growth, a strong labor market, and a return of inflation to our symmetric 2 percent objective," he said in prepared remarks for a speech in Boston.
- CNBC's Sam Meredith contributed to this report.